Death's Head
15-08-11, 07:38 AM
...Shurely 'Grapple'..? Interesting spelling aside, Grapple gets the Classics/Universe/Generations/Any old sub- line who cares treatment and turns up as a retool of 2008's Universe Inferno. As was always the likelihood To make Grapple appealing to 'the kids', he's been given a very dramatic and dynamic name. 'Solar Storm' makes grapple sound like some fearsome, untamed force of nature rather than, er, a rather boxy looking crane / robot whose function is 'Architect'. Hasbro really do need to lay off the caffeine.
I like Grapple. The original toy was a nice colourful addition to the Autobot ranks. Now he's a big, colourful addition to the Autobot ranks. For a Voyager class toy, he is massive looking, which really, is what you want from this size class (I've often felt a bit cheated in the past buying a toy in this size class that turns out to be no bigger than a carded Deluxe figure). He comes packaged in robot mode in one of these really nice yellow boxes that Hasbro have hit upon.
Straight out of the box, Grapple is a chunky, box looking thing. He's utterly lacking in sophistication, suffers from poor proportions (especially that huge chest), is a bit clumsy looking and has that crane jib on his right forearm that he can't do anything useful with. In short, he's a cheap looking block. And yet, there's something enormously appealing about him. I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's the joy of seeing a relatively minor character like Grapple picked up for a reimagining, or maybe it's just because he's a pure and unpretentious toy. As with all modern Transformers, Grapple, despite his blocky proportions, can strike some nifty poses. His best look is just standing about looking imposing as from any other angle you notice how flat he is.
So, what does a boxy looking robot transform into? A boxy looking truck of course! And so it came to pass. It's a largely simple sequence, but Hasbro have done something really silly. For some reason, Grapple's head is on a spring. Apparently, this is so the head can just 'pop out' going back to robot mode. It might just be my example, but the head doesn't like to spring back out and I have to spend a good five minutes trying to fiddle with it to get it to spring into place. I don't like this, as the roof feels very fragile as the plastics are quite thin at this point. The head fits into such a small space inside the vehicle mode cab that I fear one day I will just end up breaking this mechanism. It's an unnecessary complication on an otherwise simplistic toy, and I'm puzzled why this feature has been built into the toy.
The resulting crane is a big old Tonka truck. It’s nicely detailed, and has some nice paint apps pick out some of the detail. It's a fairly hefty and robust vehicle mode. Only the visible robot arms and the crane jib not really being connected by any substantial means spoils things somewhat. It would have been better to have some other connector point on the underside of the left arm to allow the crane assembly to lock in place. As it is, although it is on a substantial joint, it does just hover in place. The crane itself also looks a little bit insubstantial (odd, when it dominates the robot mode so much) in vehicle mode. It does the job in terms of 360 degree movement and being able to extend.
Overall, Grapple is a crude and simplistic toy compared to most modern Transformers. He's not an essential purchase really, but I am really happy with him. Yeah, he's a bit rubbish, but he's fun and I like him. definately one of those toys that looks awful until you actually own one and find out what a great piece of work it is.
149150151152
I like Grapple. The original toy was a nice colourful addition to the Autobot ranks. Now he's a big, colourful addition to the Autobot ranks. For a Voyager class toy, he is massive looking, which really, is what you want from this size class (I've often felt a bit cheated in the past buying a toy in this size class that turns out to be no bigger than a carded Deluxe figure). He comes packaged in robot mode in one of these really nice yellow boxes that Hasbro have hit upon.
Straight out of the box, Grapple is a chunky, box looking thing. He's utterly lacking in sophistication, suffers from poor proportions (especially that huge chest), is a bit clumsy looking and has that crane jib on his right forearm that he can't do anything useful with. In short, he's a cheap looking block. And yet, there's something enormously appealing about him. I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's the joy of seeing a relatively minor character like Grapple picked up for a reimagining, or maybe it's just because he's a pure and unpretentious toy. As with all modern Transformers, Grapple, despite his blocky proportions, can strike some nifty poses. His best look is just standing about looking imposing as from any other angle you notice how flat he is.
So, what does a boxy looking robot transform into? A boxy looking truck of course! And so it came to pass. It's a largely simple sequence, but Hasbro have done something really silly. For some reason, Grapple's head is on a spring. Apparently, this is so the head can just 'pop out' going back to robot mode. It might just be my example, but the head doesn't like to spring back out and I have to spend a good five minutes trying to fiddle with it to get it to spring into place. I don't like this, as the roof feels very fragile as the plastics are quite thin at this point. The head fits into such a small space inside the vehicle mode cab that I fear one day I will just end up breaking this mechanism. It's an unnecessary complication on an otherwise simplistic toy, and I'm puzzled why this feature has been built into the toy.
The resulting crane is a big old Tonka truck. It’s nicely detailed, and has some nice paint apps pick out some of the detail. It's a fairly hefty and robust vehicle mode. Only the visible robot arms and the crane jib not really being connected by any substantial means spoils things somewhat. It would have been better to have some other connector point on the underside of the left arm to allow the crane assembly to lock in place. As it is, although it is on a substantial joint, it does just hover in place. The crane itself also looks a little bit insubstantial (odd, when it dominates the robot mode so much) in vehicle mode. It does the job in terms of 360 degree movement and being able to extend.
Overall, Grapple is a crude and simplistic toy compared to most modern Transformers. He's not an essential purchase really, but I am really happy with him. Yeah, he's a bit rubbish, but he's fun and I like him. definately one of those toys that looks awful until you actually own one and find out what a great piece of work it is.
149150151152